SpaceX launches 21 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to begin the Starlink 12-4 mission on Jan. 13, 2025. Image: SpaceX

Update 2:37 p.m. EST (1937 UTC): SpaceX confirmed deployment of the Starlink satellites.

SpaceX kicked off a busy launch week that features flights from all four of its launch pads between California, Florida and Texas. Assuming no launch slips, it will launch three Falcon 9 rockets and the seventh flight test of its Starship-Super Heavy rocket.

First up was the Starlink 12-4 mission, which launched from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Liftoff happened at 11:47 a.m. EST (1647 UTC).



 

The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting the mission, tail number B1080 in the SpaceX fleet, launched for a 15th time. It previously supported the launches of the European Space Agency’s Euclid spacecraft, four missions to the International Space Station and eight Starlink flights.

A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, B1080 landed on the droneship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas,’ marking the 94th booster landing on ASOG and the 396th booster landing to date.

A day after launching the Starlink 12-4 mission, SpaceX is scheduled to launch the Transporter-12 rideshare mission with dozens of satellites on board. That mission will launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

Next up, back in Florida, a dual-lunar landing mission is scheduled to launch no earlier than 1:11 a.m. EST (0611 UTC) on Wednesday, Jan. 15, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Later that day, SpaceX is scheduled to launch the Starship Flight 7 mission, where it will attempt to once again catch the Super Heavy booster at the launch tower.